(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the storage, and to the retrieval therefrom, of standard magnetic tape cassettes and particularly to enhancing the utilization of the space available in motor vehicles for the storage of such cassettes. More specifically, this invention is directed to improved storage containers for compact cassettes and especially to storage magazines wherein the transport sliders for the cassettes are characterized by a comparatively long path of movement. Accordingly, the general objects of the present invention are to provide novel and improved methods and apparatus of such character.
(2) Description of the Prior Art
While not limited thereto in its utility, the present invention is particularly well suited for use in the storage of audio tape cassettes in the environment of a motor vehicle. Storage systems for compact, i.e., standard magnetic tape, cassettes which may be installed in the center console of a motor vehicle are known in the art. Typically, the cassettes are supported in such storage systems on transport slider members in such a manner that the narrow side of the cassette, which is intended to be juxtapositioned to the recording head in playback apparatus, is located adjacent to the front wall of the slider member. This cassette storage orientation has previously been employed since, when returning a cassette to storage, it must be placed on the slider member such that projections on the slider will engage the tape winding hubs of the cassette to prevent vibration induced rotation of the winding hubs. When returning a cassette to storage in the prior art, one of its long sides is angled beneath a front edge of a housing and the cassette is then pressed downwardly onto the slider member. Thus, both winding hub engaging projections must be positioned outside of the housing and this could previously be accomplished with what was deemed to be an acceptable amount of slider travel by adhering to the aforementioned cassette orientation.
The cassette storage containers of the prior art can be interlocked with additional containers of identical construction to form blocks and, in the typical motor vehicle installation, a plurality of such blocks would be recessed in an adapter or fitting provided in the central console of the vehicle.
The recess provided in a vehicle console for a cassette storage system will typically have a considerable depth but a relatively small opening, i.e., the opening will have a comparatively small height and width. Previously available cassette storage containers made inadequate use of the available storage depth and, accordingly, the volumetric efficiency of the storage system was poor. This poor volumetric efficiency resulted from the fact, discussed above, that the movement of the cassettes from the storage to the ejected or removal position was in the direction of their short sides. Storage containers for magnetic tape cassettes have not previously been available which had a sufficiently long ejection stroke, i.e., transport slider member travel length, so as to move a cassette in the direction of its longest side and present, outside of the housing, both of the winding hub retaining projections. The foregoing deficiency, i.e., short stroke length, of prior cassette storage containers is, in part, attributable to the fact that, to be economically practical, such storage containers should be comprised of moulded plastic parts. There is an ever present danger of such parts becoming distorted, particularly in the comparatively harsch operating environment of a motor vehicle, whereupon the transport slider member would be unable to move and the possibility of the slider jamming in the housing increases with increased ejection stroke length.